2021 What's for dinner tonight?

[Artemis Windsong]

Salisbury steak/gravy with jalapeno corn.  Lots of left overs!  And H. cooked the steaks.

Edit:  There has been a kitchen crime.  I can't find a box of butter with one stick gone.  I had to open my frozen one.

[wvugurl26]

Saturday night we had leftovers.

Sunday night we went out to one of our favorite local places. Sunday evening might be a good time to go. They are often packed with a hour long wait but we got right in.

I had a berry salad with grilled chicken. They make a cranberry poppyseed dressing for this salad that I love. DH had blackened Mahi topped with shrimp and crab.

Monday night I baked chicken breasts in the oven with BBQ seasoning and sauce. Those were served with the leftover sweet potatoes from Friday.

Leftover chicken will go into salads for my lunch this week. I'm on a kick doing a copy cat of the BBQ chicken salad from Panera.

Tuesday I didn't have to go into the office. The temperature has dropped so I'm making chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese.

[chiver78]

I picked up a frozen pizza when I stopped for pup provisions on the way home from picking them up from a weekend away. it wasn't even tolerable, and I threw out what I didn't eat.     oh well, easy meal with minimal dishes on election night. it was a white pizza with spinach and a garlic cream sauce. I added red onion, mushroom, more spinach and some extra cheese to hold the extra toppings down. 

plan for tomorrow is to fry chicken cutlets for chicken Milanese. no guarantees if I get no sleep watching results roll in. 

[snapdragon]

I have been pulling frozen soup and chili from the freezer so I can make room for other things. I plan on making my Moroccan Veggie & Lentil soup over the weekend...just so I can empty some frozen veggies packaging.

[chiver78]

no chicken cutlets tonight, I'm not hungry enough to bother. I did chop a plum tomato and mix a little bruschetta. I'll boil off some pasta at some point.

[wvugurl26]

Round 2 of grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup for Wednesday. I about died $4.49 to buy a new loaf of bread and not even fancy bread.

Going out on Thursday.

[chiver78]

Nov 9, 2022 19:43:24 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Round 2 of grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup for Wednesday. I about died $4.49 to buy a new loaf of bread and not even fancy bread.

Going out on Thursday.

what!? I can get store brand sandwich bread for $1 or $2 (white or wheat) in the basic bread aisle. this is Stop & Shop, so I think that's Giant where you are. I've been ponying up $3 for sliced whole wheat from the bakery the past few months. but still.... 

[wvugurl26]

The bread was Sara Lee Honey Wheat. Bought at Safeway. I think Giant is usually even more expensive for bread.

[chiver78]

everything is just absurd lately. I was craving a bagel this morning, so I grabbed a tub of cream cheese when I went out for the bagel. an 8oz tub of Philly cream cheese was $4.69 at S&S.   I'm definitely more of a sale shopper, I just need to find my groove in properly outfitting my fridge now that I have the new one and it works well. 

earlier this week, I picked up a marinated pork tenderloin from Smithfield as it was a good sale. I picked the rotisserie flavor marinade as it had the lowest sodium count. tonight, I roasted that and an acorn squash seasoned with EVOO and a little bit of nutmeg, and finished off the mashed potatoes from the other night. I didn't love the pork marinade, but it will work nicely for leftovers as there's four more portions. pups and I will split the leftover squash, and I'll either make more mashed potatoes or roast some tiny red ones another day. 

[countrygirl2]

I pay $3.89 for potato bread, it's Aunt Minnie's, freezes well, tastes good so yeah more expensive. I paid over $6 for a gallon of milk at Walmart in the city. It was Prairie Farms brand, I almost put it back. Usually pay $4+ lately, but I don't like Walmarts milk, tastes watered down to me.

[chiver78]

I came Cape side for brunch at M's this am, and I'm still here. we left the pups at the house and came out to the sports bar for a couple drinks. I'm likely ordering a pizza to go, for dinner and leftovers.

[daisylu]

I have spaghetti sauce something. Will cook noodles later, and the last section of loaf of garlic bread from the freezer.

Crushed tomatoes - free from neighbor gardens
Spices from pantry - most grown by me over the summer
Spaghetti noodles - 1/4 of a box = @ $.50 probably less
Last of the garlic bread = $.25 - marked down at bakery for $.99, split into 4 sections
1/2 lb ground beef = $2.50, I'd be ok without it but DH would complain.
= $3.25 for about 4 servings.


Now that I am only cooking for DH and myself, I am seeing how much cheaper it still is - even with the rising prices. Though I haven't bought meat other than BSCB for a while.

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

Made a harvest stew, warm baguette, simple salad, and hot spiced cider. Going to have to freeze some, but enough leftovers for the rest of the week.

8AC1EF46-55EF-42DF-A795-367E5F6ACFFB by Fl Cheesehead, on Flickr

[snapdragon]

I made veggie soup on Saturday and have some already in the freezer. Now that is dinner for the next few days. I also plan on doing ravioli with pesto with chicken 1 night this week. I have frozen corn on the cob and I might end up doing that with the pasta too.

[Iggy aka IG]

Last night:  Cornish game hen, breaded fried artichoke hearts, slow cooker brown butter neighbor grown carrots, and homemade chili cheesy cornbread.  Life doesn't suck, LOL.

Tonight:  A mini lasagna using leftover spaghetti sauce, baby spinach and zucchini, and whatever cheese we have on hand.
Tues:  Pizza
Wed:  Mongolian lamb, side veggie
Thurs:  Our favorite Irish restaurant
Fri:  Beef and veggies
Sat:  Not sure yet
Sun:  Grill/smoke something

[chiver78]

tonight: fresh roasted broccoli and tiny potatoes with leftover pork tenderloin
Tuesday: something with the last piece of chicken cutlet, maybe it gets chopped into a green salad. idk. 
Wed: company vote - chicken piccata, marsala, Lombardy, or cutlets with mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli and broiled asparagus 'n prosciutto. there will also be bacon-wrapped meatloaf, but I don't eat that. 
Thurs: something near the Boston Garden. I'm going to the Bruins game. 
Fri: leftover something, or takeout. 

ETA: confirmed - this pork marinade is not good. I again am overwhelmed by the celery salt flavor as I take a 2nd pass with it. if I don't finish the leftovers, I'm not going to beat myself up about it. thankfully the broccoli ans tiny reds are tasty as always.

[wvugurl26]

Sunday we had a late lunch and I had a snack later. I wasn't hungry enough for another meal.

Monday night we had spaghetti and garlic bread. I made the sauce myself because I was feeling fancy. I also thought I had 2 cans of crushed tomatoes to use up on the pantry shelves downstairs but they were way expired. Estimated costs $12.50.

I used this recipe for the sauce: www.budgetbytes.com/the-best-weeknight-pasta-sauce/

I added garlic and doubled the Italian seasoning. I sautéed the zucchini and mushrooms separately and added them at the end.

It will be a good meal to take for lunch Tuesday for my in office day. It's forecasted to be cold and rainy.

Tuesday the crock pot will make black bean pulled chicken while I'm in the office. I'll serve over rice. Estimated costs $8.50.

I put the last bag of post covid clearance $0.25 black beans in the instant pot today. I measured out what I need for Tuesday and froze a 2 cup container for future use.

Wednesday and Thursday will be leftovers and sandwiches. DH bought lunch meat last week that also needs used up.

Friday we leave town for the weekend.

[wvugurl26]

DH liked the spaghetti sauce and requested to have only that sauce going forward. Yeah we already have 6 jars of sauce bought on sale and sometimes we have like 20 minutes to make dinner.

It wasn't an all day thing but it definitely took a hour.

[daisylu]

That is how I pretty much make my spaghetti sauce, with some extra spices, garlic, and veggies thrown in. That is 1 thing that I still struggle with when cooking for just DH and I. It helps that we have 2 freezers, so I can continue to make large batches of just the sauce (without the meat and sometimes without veggies) and freeze it in smaller batches.

[weltschmerz]

Nov 15, 2022 12:14:21 GMT -5 daisylu said:

That is how I pretty much make my spaghetti sauce, with some extra spices, garlic, and veggies thrown in. That is 1 thing that I still struggle with when cooking for just DH and I. It helps that we have 2 freezers, so I can continue to make large batches of just the sauce (without the meat and sometimes without veggies) and freeze it in smaller batches.

Do you put a bit of sugar in your sauce? It makes all the difference.

www.epicurious.com/ingredients/sugar-tomato-sauce-secret-article

[chiver78]

I think I'm making tacos tonight. it is Tuesday, after all. lol...  but I have this big package of BSCB for whatever's going on tomorrow. I'll saute and shred one with taco seasoning, and then I'll have leftovers for quesadillas the rest of the week. 

re: sugar in sauce - no. many Italians use carrots, but my family doesn't love them. we slice a sweet bell pepper for the same purpose. 

[weltschmerz]

I always use bell peppers in spaghetti sauce, but I still put in a teaspoon of sugar in the pot.

[daisylu]

Nov 15, 2022 15:07:28 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Nov 15, 2022 12:14:21 GMT -5 daisylu said:

That is how I pretty much make my spaghetti sauce, with some extra spices, garlic, and veggies thrown in. That is 1 thing that I still struggle with when cooking for just DH and I. It helps that we have 2 freezers, so I can continue to make large batches of just the sauce (without the meat and sometimes without veggies) and freeze it in smaller batches.

Do you put a bit of sugar in your sauce? It makes all the difference.

www.epicurious.com/ingredients/sugar-tomato-sauce-secret-article

I do not, but I do add julienned carrots for sweetness.

[chiver78]

tonight turned out to be chicken piccata for me. M got plain sauteed chicken, and the meatloaf she chose to eat that had the garlic and onion she can't have.  not my circus....  the other lady that I was expecting ended up not coming. but there was also the bacon-wrapped meatloaf for mooch, and the shared garlic mashed and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus. I kept some of the mashed potatoes, and all of the piccata. everything else went with them, including the end of a big (undressed) salad bowl. 

[daisylu]

Patty style hashbrowns have been scarce the last month around here. So breakfast this morning is Simply Potatoes diced potatoes, seasoned with sweet peppers, garlic, Hidden Valley Fiesta Ranch (dry), and bacon grease, with bacon crumbles, loose sausage, cheese, and eggs in top. I like to add hot sauce on top of mine, with no eggs.

Potatoes = $2.09
Peppers = .50 (marked for quick sale)
Eggs = free from neighbor
Bacon and sausage from small leftover batches in freezer = maybe $1.50
Cheese = $1
= $5.09 for 4 servings

[wvugurl26]

Frozen potatoes in any form seem to be in scarce supply here still 2 years later. The grocery stores do seem to be better stocked than Walmart. Probably because their price is so much higher.

[chiver78]

I'm in need of a big shop, that will happen this weekend. on my "country drive" today with the pups, I hit the fish market as one of my errands. I've got ~3/4lb of fresh cod that I'm going to bake off tonight. I'll cover my portion with bread crumbs, theirs will be unseasoned and will be a surprise for breakfast after it cools. 

anyway, MY dinner tonight will be roasted cod and broccoli with the garlic mashed potatoes that didn't fit in the to-go container from Wednesday night. I'll figure out the next week tomorrow. 

[chiver78]

wow, this dropped to page 2! anyway, I has a package of thin sliced chicken breast with a sell by date of today, and a package of cremini mushrooms that had seen some better days. I pulled this together with what I had on hand, over linguine. my sauce separated a little, but I only had light cream. I also didn't use Dijon bc 🤮. I thought it was okay, I'll probably try it again with heavy cream. and maybe add more veggies to the plate.

www.saltandlavender.com/creamy-mushroom-chicken/

[snapdragon]

I did that wonderful Rosemary and Garlic Beef Stew for T-day and bulked it up with mushrooms and barley. I finished it off last night.

It's getting colder and so I need to probably do a stirfry and get some stuff out of the freezer. Than I can make a chicken chili for later this week.

[Iggy aka IG]

Last week:
Thursday (I stayed home due to illness):  Leftover beef rib nachos
Friday:  Sam's Club appetizers mini quiche and crab Rangoon
Sat:  Domino's pizza and cheesy bread
Sun:  Seasoned ground beef nachos

This week:
Mon:  Leftover pizza and cheesy bread
Tues:  Taco salad using leftover ground beef
Tonight: Sole, sauteed spinach, green beans
Thurs:  Zatarain's with andouille sausage
Fri:  Takeout
Sat:  Sleepover with the neighbor kiddos = Frito pie and mac and cheese
Sun:  Grill/smoke something, veggies